Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the parade plan reflects Trump’s respect for the armed forces. But we’re with the skeptics, including members of Congress from both parties, retired military leaders and veterans who brand this as a misguided exercise in chest-thumping.

“Confidence is silent and insecurity is loud,” says Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican. How did North Korea celebrate the opening ceremony of the Olympics in neighboring South Korea? With a big honking military parade.

The mightiest military in the world doesn’t need to peacock its weaponry to intimidate enemies and comfort citizens.

And a vein-popping display of military might isn’t the way to show his respect for the nation’s soldiers. Beefing up health care for veterans is. Making sure soldiers have the latest gear and a clear mission when put in harm’s way is. Updating and streamlining the nation’s nuclear arsenal as a deterrent is.

Don’t get us wrong. We like parades. Floats, marching bands, kids twirling batons, or precision-marching dads and their lawn chairs or lawn mowers. And sure, a muscle-flexing display of America’s amazing military arsenal appeals to the 8-year-old in all of us who eagerly climbed on fire engines at the local fair.

There have been other similar military parades in the U.S. In 1991, for instance, President George H.W. Bush staged a victory celebration after the Gulf War.

We would remind President Trump, however, that there’s nothing more embarrassing than a politician overstepping in his zeal to show he’s with the troops. Remember the 1988 photo op that devastated Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis’ presidential campaign? Dukakis, uneasily poking his awkwardly helmeted head out of an M1 Abrams tank, reaped a payload of national ridicule that may have doomed his campaign.

Will a big parade backfire on Trump? Not likely. This could be a brilliant way for the president to seize huge hunks of TV airtime, as Matt Latimer wrote for Politico. And to cast naysayers (and Democrats) as unpatriotic parade scrooges who hate the military.

It is likely to be another opportunity for Trump to preen and pose and deflect attention from controversies. That Russian probe thing? Who wants to talk about that? Look at that shiny tank. Wouldn’t you love to climb in?

Trump may get his parade. And yes, there will be big crowds to ooh and ahh. A threat to the republic? Nah. Just a huffing-and-puffing waste of time and money.